Things To Do In Kodiak | Our Guide To The City's Best Spots (2024)

Season: June - September$6,252+6 nights

Immerse your­self in amul­ti-day Alaskan adven­ture that promis­es incred­i­ble views and jaw-drop­ping bear view­ing in Kat­mai Nation­al Park, along with awarm cama­raderie that only asmall group expe­di­tion can cre­ate. Explore from your home base on the Island C, aresearch ves­sel that gets you close to the action while pro­vid­ing com­fort­able lodg­ing and deli­ciousmeals.

Season: Sep 18 to Sep 23 $6000 per person5 nights / 6 days

On this six-day, all-inclu­sive sum­mer­time expe­di­tion, you’ll head to gor­geous Kodi­ak Island with Dan MLee and Jes­si­cal Hay­dahl, two pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­phers spe­cial­iz­ing in Alas­ka. Your small group tour includes two brown bear view­ing fly-outs and amarine wildlife tour. You’ll come away not only with bet­ter tech­ni­cal skills, but you’ll also learn how to think out­side the box in order to cap­ture the sto­ry behind the image, and how to document...more

Season: Mid-June - October 1$6,998+4 day / 3 night +

Kodi­ak Island is awide­ly known bear-view­ing hotspot. The eco-focused Kodi­ak Brown Bear Cen­ter &Lodge — owned by the Alu­ti­iq peo­ple, who have inhab­it­ed Kodi­ak Island for more than 7,000years— offers the thrilling oppor­tu­ni­ty to see these amaz­ing crea­tures for your­self. Choose from a3‑, 4‑, or 7‑night pack­age. Each day includes guid­ed excur­sions to one of three bear-view­ing locations.

Whether you’re look­ing for world class bear-view­ing or want to expe­ri­ence abreath­tak­ing flight­see­ing tour, Kodi­ak-based Island Air Ser­vice can make it hap­pen. Start your bear-view­ing tour in Kodi­ak, and you’ll have ashort­er flight time com­pared to leav­ing from Anchor­age. Even if you’re just here for aday while your cruise ship is in port, it’s easy to fly out and wit­ness the majesty of these impres­sive creatures.

Difficulty: Easy

Whether you’re look­ing for acamp­site or fish­ing hole, glass­ing for birds, watch­ing for bears, or beach­comb­ing, this recre­ation site is agreat spot to expe­ri­ence the won­ders of Kodi­ak Island with­out trav­el­ing toofar.

Difficulty: Moderate

Fol­low the trail that winds upward through tall grass cross­ing some wet places. After about 1.5miles, you come to the lake, which is abeau­ti­ful place for apic­nic or swim on asun­ny day. Keep an eye out for upland birds, bear, deer, andgoats.

Difficulty: Easy

One of the eas­i­est beach­es to access from town, this park has anice over­look and excel­lent water­front with pic­nic sites. In late July through Sep­tem­ber, you can fish from the beach for sil­ver and pink salmon. Bird­ing is good year round, but it’s espe­cial­ly great dur­ing the winter.

Difficulty: Easy

This is the high­est moun­tain close to town. If you tack­le this hike, you’re in for aclimb, but alarge por­tion of the trail is in the alpine, with beau­ti­ful flow­ers and tun­dra. You’ll be climb­ing 2,400feet in ele­va­tion in just two miles. Watch for upland birds includ­ing Wil­low and Rock Ptarmi­gan, and Amer­i­can Pipits.

Difficulty: Easy

Only lim­it­ed access is allowed to this mil­i­tary reser­va­tion. Access the trails through the pedes­tri­an gates in the fence at the end of Wood­land Dri­ve. Walk along an old road to the cape. There are nice short hikes along the sea cliffs and anorth­east­er­ly beach. This area is espe­cial­ly rec­om­mend­ed on stormy nd rainy days when east­er­ly gales will unveil the ocean’s fury. The wild­flower mead­ows are beau­ti­ful rest­ing spots on calm sun­ny daysin…...more

Difficulty: Easy

The trail par­al­lels Island Lake Creek, which tum­bles steeply through the woods over falls and boul­ders. This is agood place to see dip­pers, as well as for­est birds such as win­ter wrens, var­ied thrush, chick­adees, nuthatch­es and creepers.

Difficulty: Moderate

Old Wom­ens Moun­tain hike pro­vides great views of Chini­ak Bay, the Coast Guard base and Kodi­ak city and har­bor. The sur­round­ing moun­tain scenery is breath­tak­ing. About ¹⁄₂mile south of the air­port road, take aright turn on the paved road up to ​“Avi­a­tion Hill.” Turn left at the entrance to the sub­di­vi­sion and park at the end of the road behind the Coast Guard Loran build­ing. You will find the trail­head at the far end of the park­ing lot.An…...more

Difficulty: Moderate

This is awell-used and busy ATV road that leads up the Amer­i­can Riv­er and over apass to Saltery Cov­er. It is only open to trail bikes, ATVs and hik­ers. While it is pos­si­ble to hike the road, be aware that you will need to ford some streams.

Difficulty: Easy

Dur­ing sum­mer the mead­ows are full of wild­flow­ers and the views of Chini­ak Bay are spec­tac­u­lar. The south cape is agood place to look for Horned and Tuft­ed Puffins, Bal­ck-legged Kit­ti­wakes, Pelag­ic and Dou­ble-crest­ed Cor­morants, Black Oys­ter­catch­ers and var­i­ous ducks includ­ing Har­le­quins, scot­ers and Long-tailed Ducks.

Difficulty: Moderate

Hike these scenic ridges and lush meadows

Difficulty: Easy

For agen­tle stroll on asur­faced path, Kodi­ak’s Bik­ing &Walk­ing Path begins at the cor­ner of Ben­ny Ben­son and Rezenof Road, and par­al­lels Rezanof north­ward 2miles to the entrance to Fort Aber­crom­bie State His­tor­i­cal Park. This is arel­a­tive­ly flat path used by jog­gers dog walk­ers, bik­ers and walk­ers, that trav­els past Mill Bay Beach, aFrench pas­try and cof­fee shop and the trail had to the Island Lake Trail. For alonger walk,add…...more

Difficulty: Moderate

This trail can be hard to fol­low as it mean­ders through wet areas, thick veg­e­taion and up salmonber­ry slopes before it reach­es the rich sub­alpine mead­ows and even­tu­al­ly leads into abowl-shaped glacial cirque at the base of the moun­tain. There is plen­ty of great bird habi­tat along the trail so watch for pip­its and ptarmi­gan up high and song­bird and snipe in the low­er elevations.

Difficulty: Easy

Loved by locals and trav­el­ers alike, this 182-acre state park has numer­ous trails, beach­es, and rocky view­points. For his­to­ry buffs, the trails take you past bunkers and relics from WWII out­posts in the area. You’ll also find sum­mer nat­u­ral­ist pro­grams where you can learn about ecol­o­gy as well as ocean and for­est creatures.

Difficulty: Easy

One of the best spots to check out WWII relics, there’s ashort trail from the park­ing area on the side of theroad.

Difficulty: Moderate

A six-mile round-trip hike that climbs to just over 2,000feet, this climb will get you great views of Women’s Bay and the rolling moun­tains of the island. Look for ptarmi­gan up here…this is ahike the Audubon Soci­ety does annually.

Difficulty: Easy

Mayflower Beach is ablack sand and stone beach with views across the bay to forest­ed hills and moun­tains. Lis­ten to the waves crash against the shore and smell the fresh ocean smell. Beach­comb­ing, pic­nick­ing, &hik­ing are all great things to do in thisarea.

Difficulty: Moderate

One of the area’s more pop­u­lar hikes (or dri­ves, as there’s aroad to the top), Pil­lar Moun­tain offers amod­er­ate, 2.5‑mile climb to an alpine sum­mit over­look­ing town. Your heart, lungs, and legs may burn, but you’ll have great views and see excel­lent wild­flow­ers, as most of the trail is above tree­line. You’ll rec­og­nize the peak, since it dom­i­nates the sky over Kodi­ak. And if you get wind­ed on this hike, con­sid­er the run­ners who race uphere…...more

Difficulty: Easy

Just over the bridge, this park offers easy beach walk­ing and great pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ties of Kodi­ak. Snap shots of the water­front, have apic­nic, or enjoy qui­et beach­es. The park is forest­ed, with excel­lent spruce groves that are silent havens for birds and squir­rels. There’s excel­lent bird watch­ing at the end of the trail. Walk the mossy earth and head over to the peb­ble beach­es — it’s agreat mid­day retreat close totown.

Difficulty: Difficult

This is Kodiak’s most pop­u­lar moun­tain, and for good rea­son: It’s achal­lenge, the views are stun­ning, and it feels like atrue moun­tain climb — there’s a2,073-foot ele­va­tion gain in just afew miles. Awell-trod trail leads up the ridge, which you can access from the end of the air­port run­way. Fol­low an old grav­el road to the north­east ridge, where atrail breaks on your left. The first part runs through the brush, but you’ll break intoopen…...more

Cross Fox Lakes on Kodi­ak Island are an excel­lent des­ti­na­tion for afam­i­ly out­ing, pic­nic, or swim on ahot sum­mer day. You can con­tin­ue past the lakes and explore the ter­rain far­ther up the val­ley. In win­ter, the lakes are agreat place for ice skating.